Toxic For a Human (Tribute to Kenny Baker)
by CyanGalaxy
Summary: Sometimes it's just not that understandable for a droid to figure out what's going on, when all the organic lifeforms suddenly become sickly from toxic fumes—which are harmful to humanoids, apparently. (R2-D2 story)


"Hold on, Artooie." Padawan Ahsoka said, coming to a halt down the hallway. "Something... doesn't feel right."

Artoo stopped beside her, whistling a " _what's wrong?"_ He knew well enough to always trust when the Jedi said something was off. His Master's natural programming (or 'instincts', as organics say) had gotten them both out of lots of sticky situations before, especially when flying.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes, Artoo swerving his head just as they entered the _Resolute's_ hangar. It was packed with the clones the Jedi fought with, as well as various ships.

Artoo began to stroll away, heading towards the clone Captain of the 501st that needed debriefing on the up and coming battle. That's why Ahsoka and himself had go down here: to collect him. As of the last 30 minutes, comm-link communications weren't working. A technical problem that would be easy for Atroo to solve later, since he himself is a mechanical being.

Another swerve of his dome head, and suddenly Artoo realized Ahsoka wasn't with him. She was still standing by the door, checking the area out as if the area had a hidden bomb in it. Which, in fact, it didn't. Even before they entered the hangar bay, Atroo had done a thermal scan of the place which came up with negative suspicious activity. Maybe Ahsoka was just being paranoid? He knew from his Master that sometimes that happeneds to people when exposed to war for a long time.

" _Are you coming?"_ He spoke, a little concerned.

She numbly nodded, still being pretty cautious of the whole situation. Maybe Ahsoka was doing that thing that Jedi did when checking everything through the Force?

" _If you want, I can rescan the hangar to make you feel safer?"_ He offered, hoping to bring her some reassurance. In the past he'd learnt the organics need that comfort to feel happy. And even though he didn't understand—he didn't have a lot of emotions—he did it anyway for them.

"No thanks, Artoo." She said slowly. "Maybe it's nothing." He could tell she wasn't being truthful by the way she didn't sound convincing at all. She attempted to shrug it off, but no organic acts like that when they're honest with themselves. "C'mon, lets just get Rex."

Captain Rex was on the other side of the hangar, and as the two traveled to his position, Artoo didn't notice anything. He causally made his way towards the solider, oblivious towards whatever problems the organics had. If he had lungs, he'd notice the lack of air entering his system. If he had eyes, he'd notice them getting blurry. If he had a nose, he'd notice the sudden heavy smell of Elumhyra—one of the _Resolute's_ main sources of hydrologic fuel—coat the oxygen.

"Arg—what is that?" Asoka coughed, Atroo noticing her organic reflex.

" _What is what, Ahsoka?"_

But he didn't receive an answer, only a string of coughs and gasps from the young Togruta. Her skin and lekku became paler, and that's when Artoo noticed everyone else in the hangar bay was in the same condition. It was so bad that the clones were doing that thing that people do when they need to power down, or recharge, or... or... sleep! Yes, clones were falling unconscious right on the ground. And if they were doing that, the organics must be in serious trouble. From field experience, Artoo definitely knew that that wasn't good.

" _Ahsoka, what's happening? Are you alright?"_ Maybe she had the answers, she was a living lifeform after all. Hopefully she could tell him what to do, and how to save the day like he always did. Actually, he _wanted_ her to say that, because if she was talking, that meant she wasn't coughing or tearing up like she was now.

"Artoo—..." She managed. "The air—it's contaminated." The Padawan couldn't stand anymore, letting her legs give way—which sometimes affiliated with exhaustion, Artoo knows.

" _Contaminated? With what?"_

"Don't... Know. Go to—bridge—fix this... gas/fuel leak... clean filtration, please..."

He didn't want to leave her alone, but his orders overwrote the need to stay by her side. Maybe in a different scenario he'd disobey to not abandon the heaving girl, but this time he did. After all, what use would he be if he was just standing by and watching her deactivate slowly?...

Soon the little droid was practically flying through the halls, bumping in to many walls in the process. His frantic little robotic mind worked into overdrive, and his senses were on overload. It somewhat amazed him that the worry for the organics was making him act this way, because he didn't know any other droid that would function the same.

Finally making it to the bridge, Atroo was taken aback by all the clones, officers and even his own Master lying against the cold ground like the people in the hangar. Without even processing, Atroo sprinted to his fallen Master, his anxiety getting the best of him.

 _"Master Anakin?! Please, wake up."_ He beeped, as more rushed tweets and whistles sounded from his binary-speaking vocalizer.

However, his Master didn't move. Anakin stayed on his back, looking greyer and greyer as every second past. The more-droid-than-human part of R2-D2 was screaming at the Jedi for not getting up. If droids fell over, or were remotely shutdown, they easily got back up again, so why shouldn't Master Anakin? But the human part of Artoo knew organic biology was a lot different than droid programming. Humanoids couldn't simply 'brush it off' or 'get up', they didn't function that way. And for Atroo, sometimes it's just a little hard to remember that—that him and the people he works with are different.

Only when warning lights came to life about the toxin leak, did Artoo remember why he was here and what he needed to do. Quickly (because he couldn't waste anymore time), Artoo plugged into the main cruiser terminal. From that terminal, he could access everything—gravity sensors, hyperdrive, shields—and, of course, the air purification filtration systems. Right now, the data revealed that a liquid Elumhyra fuel storage tank had burst, causing the leak. But the intense heat from the operation cruiser effected it to evaporate, and the liquid-turned-gas basically spread from there. Now it's reached the whole ship, and if he doesn't fix this mess, all organic lives will be lost to the toxin.

So, pulling the _Resolute_ out of hyperspace, landing on the nearest planet, and igniting the filtration system, Artoo watched the cruiser's monitors slowly replace evaporated Elumhyra with oxygen-rich clean air from the planet's surface. He didn't care about the fact he knew nothing about this planet, nor the fact that someone back at the fleet would realize their absence, because in the end, the organics were above whatever protocol he was supposed to have taken.

The crew officers woke up, clones too and eventually his Master. It got annoying explaining the situation and what just occurred one billion times to everybody, but soon they ended up thanking him, Master Anakin even asking if _he_ was okay. Obviously Artoo said he was fine, because as a droid nothing of this sort affected him, and they both went to go back to Ahsoka. She was fine too, though not having the memory of ever telling Atroo to go to the bridge. He somewhat related to her on a level, because mind-wiping was a thing for droids. It wasn't the same thing and they all knew it, but he couldn't stop the feeling of now knowing humanoids just a little bit better.

 **Oml it's been two months since I've done a short story. My bad, apologies. I have weird as hell writers block where I have so many ideas but have no clue how to write them.**

 **Anyway, this story is an R2-D2 story in memory of Kenny Baker, who sadly past away.**

 **Favourite and review if you liked this. Feedback is life. :) I take requests, too.**

 **P.S I have know idea if the science behind the fuel thing is true, I completely made it up. Elumhyra isn't even a real substance.**

 **May the Force be with you**

 **-CyanGalaxy**


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